


How Not To Prank A Child

by Fire_Cat_Ramblings



Series: A Strange Family [5]
Category: One Piece
Genre: Adopted Children, Family Fluff, Implied Relationships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-06
Updated: 2017-09-06
Packaged: 2018-12-24 14:21:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,434
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12014589
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fire_Cat_Ramblings/pseuds/Fire_Cat_Ramblings
Summary: Borsalino chose to take the little half-fishman girl in, and yet he was proving not to be the smartest guardian. Good thing Sakazuki is around to fix things.





	How Not To Prank A Child

It was supposed to be a prank, a way to scare the young girl and perhaps make her laugh a little later. But of course, when Borsalino tried something like that, it always seemed to go a bit wrong. Before Mitsu had gone to bed he had sat her down with a smile, and begun to tell her scary stories about monsters and demons that hid in the dark. Now usually the girl wasn’t scared by these sorts of things, but usually it wasn’t an Admiral telling the stories. And he told them with such conviction as well. At the end of course he had laughed, said there was no such thing, and carried her off to bed.

This hardly did anything to calm her fears and so she had stayed curled up, peeking out from under the covers, for a very long time. Outside she could hear things bumping against the door, clawing at the walls outside, but she couldn’t dare move. Her fathers would hear it, surely, and would do something to protect her. Eventually, through sheer exhaustion, the little girl found herself falling asleep, curled up with her pillows and blankets.

Not even an hour passed by when she was awoken by the sound of something moving under her bed. She started awake, eyes wide, heart in her throat, and ready to attack whatever it was. Years alone and on the streets made it quite easy for her to wake at the slightest hint of trouble. Forcing her voice to be steady, she called out. “H-hello?”

The bed underneath her jerked, and instantly she was screaming. Her feet touched the ground and she tried to run, only for something to grab her leg! Lashing out with one foot she made contact and heard a strange crunch, trying to scramble free from the monstrous grip that had captured her. As she pulled her leg away her fin extended automatically, and the creatures gnarled claw tried to grab her again. Only this time it wasn’t her leg it grabbed. Screaming she pulled her fin away, feeling it tear painfully, but there was no time for that. Once more she slammed her free foot into the creature, and hearing yet another crunch, it released her.

Before she could blink Mitsu was at the door, yanking it open frantically and rushing down the hall to her fathers’ room. Behind her she could hear the monster colliding with objects, trying to escape from under her bed. Screaming she pushed open the door to the bedroom. “PAPA! DAAAD!! SOMETHING’S AFTER ME!”

 

Sakazuki was up in an instant, already boiling at the sound of the child’s screaming. “DAMNIT MITSU!”

He glared at her for a fraction of a second before two things sunk in: Her words and the fact that her leg was bleeding. Mitsu was in Sakazuki’s arms before either could blink and he turned to find Borsalino… not in the bed. Heart pounding, he began to worry, whatever was there was not about to harm his-

A thud came from the door and Mitsu curled into Sakazuki’s chest, fear etched in her expression. The admiral whirled around, his free arm turning to Magma without a second thought. Standing there in the darkened frame, illuminated by the light of the hall was…

Borsalino. One hand covered in a bit of blood, his sunglasses broken and sitting on his face askew. His pajamas, which were silk and looked far too much like his usual suit, were wrinkled and covered in just a bit of sawdust.

“What, happened?” Sakazuki growled, his arm returning to normal as he glared at his partner and fellow Admiral with the type of rage only he could summon.

 

Downstairs Sakazuki let out a long sigh as he reluctantly bandaged Mitsu’s leg up. She absolutely refused to go near Borsalino once he had explained what had happened.

_“It was a prank! I’m so sorry sweetie, I thought I’d just scare you a little.” He came forward trying to pick her up and give her a hug only for the girl to flinch back and whimper slightly, hiding it Sakazuki’s arm even more. She hadn’t been crying before but now she was, a look of hurt and betrayal evident on her face._

_Sakazuki could only glare right then, and though he was unaware of it, disappointment laced his voice almost as much as anger did. “It was your choice to take her in. What the hell were you thinking exactly?”_

_The other man had slumped in despair at the sight of his lover and child, so angry, so scared, and so disappointed in him. Any attempts at humor or lightheartedness were lost in an instant. She was still bleeding, and the knowledge that he had done that to his child, it broke a part of his heart. He tried to come forward, to reach out, to offer to help her. But the moment his hand touched her hair… “STAY AWAY!”_

_Seeing Borsalino so heartbroken softened Sakazuki’s anger, but only by a fraction. Sighing he shifted Mitsu slightly so he was looking her in the eye. “We’ll put a bandage on that, will it heal properly?”_

_Sniffling she nodded and wiped at her tears, refusing to look at Borsalino. With a deep sigh Sakazuki moved past the other, and looked him in the eye, a look that said they would most certainly be talking about this later. Or shouting, most likely shouting._

Now, with her leg bandaged up, he looked Mitsu in the eye. Her tears were dried and she looked tired and hurt. Comfort was hardly his strong suit, ordinarily Borsalino would be the one to turn to for it, but right now he wasn’t exactly an option. “You _will_ forgive him.”

Mitsu sniffled a little and nodded, though she pouted. “Of course I will he’s my papa… but… he was really mean.”

Internally the man was trying to keep calm, but externally he was as stern as ever. With a grunt, he picked the small child up. Mentally he made a note that she needed to eat more. She was so small that she could sit in the crook of his elbow without a problem, though that was more due to his own size. She snuggled into him, curling a small hand into the white sleeveless undershirt he had worn to bed. Without really thinking about it he reached up and began to stroke her hair gently, far more gently than he had thought himself capable of. Even now he was worried that he could break her with a touch, and even after months of care and doctors’ she was still small and weak. But he found himself proud as well. Despite her weakness, she had fought back when in danger, she had even broken Borsalino’s glasses.

Yet after all this commotion, and the day’s work as well, Sakazuki was not exactly able to keep his eyes open. He was so tired but the child seemed no closer to sleep even after everything. He wanted to just carry her upstairs and be done with it, but he doubted she’d let go even then, so he did the only thing he could think of. Taking in a breath he began to sing a soft lullaby, looking up at the ceiling the entire time.

“Blow the wind southerly, southerly, southerly,

Blow the wind south o'er the bonny blue sea…”

 

Mitsu’s eyes widened when Sakazuki began to sing, she was amazed. He sounded… not terrible. It was deep and oddly calming. She rested her head against his chest again, and listened to the song. It was more of a sea shanty than anything, but… it reminded her of home, in the best way possible. She began to hum along slowly but something about his voice, about the gentle rumbling and the oddly calm song, it all made her eyes drift closed.

After a few minutes Sakazuki looked down to find Mitsu sound asleep in his arm, her hand still clutching his shirt tightly. His lip twitched in what might be considered a smile if you adjusted your definition of the word, and he began to move to get up. Only for the girl to stir and twitch, threatening to wake up. He sighed and leaned back, resigned to his fate. Closing his eyes, he refused to admit to himself that this was nice, refused to admit that the warmth he felt right then for the girl was anything other than annoyance, and he absolutely refused to admit that as he fell asleep, a small smile curved his lips.

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by post from @ask-monkey-and-dog on tumblr. Mitsu, the young girl mentioned, is my character. If you want more of her as an adult you can look me up on tumblr @Ask-Marine-Mitsu. 
> 
> For those interested in the song Sakazuki sings to Mitsu here is a link to it: 
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASsZfXCyAKg


End file.
